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Monday, April 20, 2009

Finding creative gifts is always a priority for me. Sure you can find a zillion great toys at any given toy store but I have a reputation to uphold as this amazing gift giver, kidding! Seriously enough I find myself lost in the online catalog at Hearthsong.

Hearthsong’s online catalog reminds me a bit of the sort of catalog I could only dream up as a child. So many unusual choices that are all so tempting, from finger lights to insanely large blow up balls that your child can actually ride inside, we have one and it’s a blast. To beautiful fairy cottages that would have made my heart pound as a child and almost take my breath away as an adult. I have to say no matter how old I get my heart still skips when I see a fairy circle or the twisted tree in my back yard with a space at the bottom that looks like a door.

I perused the catalog for some of the items I thought would best fit a two year old, careful to take my own opinion out of it. Something that would really get Connor’s imagination going as he is really starting to grasp pretend play, a change that I have been waiting for anxiously.

The first choice for his birthday was a sleeping bag, it seems like a rather mundane choice with all the amazing toys that they have at Hearthsong but seeing as he is spending more and more time with my family and soon will be old enough to do a sleep over with one of his cousins it seemed practical. No ordinary sleeping bag would be fitting so when I saw the car slumber bag at Hearthsong I knew Connor would be thrilled. I guessed right and it barely made it out of the box before he was begging for me to open the package. Without any explanation, to my surprise, he unrolled it and got himself in, laid down on the pillow, and proceeded to pretend to snore. Though we have not actually used it for a real sleepover his two year old molars have been coming in which equals some pretty rough nights. Lately the slumber bag has been the perfect couch retreat for our late night fiestas. I’ll be glad when we both start sleeping regularly again but I’m grateful he has a nice sleeping bag to get him through this. I was a little concerned that all those appliques would make the slumber bag difficult to wash. Turns out that the looser appliques are actually velcroed on which means you can just remove them to wash the bag. The only disadvantage to this is the fact that they are veclroed on, heh, meaning Connor really enjoys taking them off. For the time being I’ve just removed them and put them back into the plastic carrying bag and once he’s old enough to know that he may loose them if he removes them I’ll give them back. Otherwise Connor is none the wiser to his missing wheels.

Our second choice was something much smaller and much more personal. It’s no secret that Connor loves cars of any sorts and we have tiny cars, tiny police cars, and even a tiny tractor. Wooden vehicles are much harder to come by and even harder to find in anything other than sports cars. So when I saw the wheel town construction set I knew Connor would flip his lid. Not to mention its very affordable even on a modest budget. I was a little confused on the age limit of 3+ as Connor has no difficulty with small cars at his age but once I got them home I realized why and quickly fixed the problem. The tracts on both the excavator and bulldozer can be removed fairly easily and I guess the fear is a child would chew on them. My easy fix for that was to quickly remove them and stash them in our upper drawer until he is a bit older. Otherwise they are super sturdy and look great with Connor’s train and car collection. I had to laugh as there were two wooden squares on both ends of the packages which I assume were for decoration, both of which are perfectly sanded and finished. I’m not even sure if they were designed to be but they made a great addition to our block collection and we routinely use them as windows for our buildings as the blocks are square with little round circles cut out and they make for perfect windows in our block castles.

If your looking for the perfect baby gift or even for a gift for an older child or even a tween your bound to find something really amazing at Hearthsong. I only warn you that you could spend half a day checking out their catalog as well as their sister company Magic Cabin.

Hearthsong is giving away one slumber bag to one lucky reader during the birthday event at Seven Dogs! One reader will walk away with a slumber bag in a choice of a boy or girl design.

Leave a comment on this post. Check out the Hearthsong website and let us know if you were buying a gift for a friend or child you know what would you buy from Hearthsong? Make sure you read below to earn extra entries including a scavenger hunt entry.

Make sure there is a way for me to contact you - if your email address is not on your profile or you are not a blogger you may leave it in your comment or email it to me directly (angelaandconnor at gmail dot com) We have had to disqualify a lot of potential winners as of late as many people do not have emails available in their profiles or leave anonymous posts without any way to contact you.

Please US entries only.

To get extra credit :

For an extra entry :

Bloggers - Blog about this contest and leave me the link on your comment, or add me to your sidebar and let me know its there.

Answer the I Spy trivia question "Check out the Hearthsong catalog and check out their party and cooking section! I spy a cool item that would be a very tasty and cool way to end a great outdoor party. All you have to do is shake or roll it! Do not leave this entry in your comment all triva question answers go to contestsatsevendogs@gmail.com. Use the subject "Hearthsong" Posting "I spy" answers in comments will disqualify you!

Let people know about the giveaway on Twitter with a link to the giveaway!

If my daughter hadn't JUST celebrated her second birthday, I'd consider getting her the recycled horse tire swing. My Grandpa had one of these in his backyard and it was our favorite thing to do at his house.beccachristensen at hotmail dot com

Wowwww great site for shopping for our new grandbaby! Thanks for the tip. I must say great items for the homeschooling parent..arts & crafts, fine motor skills, science, and math skills. Very good prices in the sale tab too!